Blue Spring Creek Commuity Starts Stream Team

MILLER COUNTY - Just a little over two months have passed since residents near Blue Spring Creek found out the Department of Natural Resources denied Rocky Mount Sewer District's request for a permit to build a water treatment plant in the area. The community has since recognized the need to take care of its creek and have now formed a stream team.

According to the state's stream team website, almost every county in the state has a volunteer group dedicated to river conservation. In 2011, Missouri saw a growth of 196 new stream teams. These groups logged almost 203,000 hours of volunteer time over the course of the year.

According to Janice Imler, the idea for a Blue Spring Creek stream team started after the group raised concerns about Rocky Mount Sewer District's plans to build a water treatment plant that would have discharged treated sewage back into the creek. Imler said now is the time to learn about the health of Blue Spring Creek and how to keep it clean for the kids and grandkids to come.

"When you get in the creek you feel the calmness, the serenity unlike anywhere else and that's what is important to me, you know to take care of the creek so it will be there for future generations," Imler said.

The group has pledged to clean the area in and around Blue Spring Creek from Frasier Oak Road to Highway Z.

For people like John Schupp, cleaning the creek means his family legacy can live on.

"My dad he swam in it, I did, my kids, my grandkids and now my great-grand kids is swimming in it and playing in it in the summer time. I think it's great," Schupp said.

Rocky Mount Sewer District is now looking into obtaining a permit to build an extended air sewage treatment facility on Y-13, near Lick Branch Cove.